Chinese Six Panel Screen Set with Sliding Sleeping Panels

Six tall panels, and a small crowd of carved people going about their business.

This six panel screen set with sliding sleeping panels comes from Zhejiang Province, China, and dates to the early 19th century, in carved and lacquered elm wood. Lattice woodwork of this kind was a staple of Chinese domestic architecture, dividing space while letting air and light pass. In the upper section of each panel, a key-fret lattice surrounds round medallions and a central plaque of figures. A carved frieze sits below that, then a plain recessed panel in warm red-brown. Brass hinges join the leaves. Each stands about eight feet at 95 inches.

Privacy, with the air left in.